Bright are shaded out in derby thriller

Bright are shaded out in derby thriller

BRIGHT were edged out by a single point in their local derby with Kilclief on Saturday evening.

Kilclief won possession from throw in and immediately went on the attack producing points from Ricky Kerr, Ronan Strain and Kieran Polly. Kilclief continued to boss affairs and it took Bright a full 13 minutes before they registered their first score through Conor Kelly.

Tony McIlhone’s wicked shot was cleared by a defender, but Kelly pounced on the loose ball and drove it to the back of the net.

Aidan McCann added two points before Conan Hynds netted for the visitors to leave them with a five point lead, 1-0 to 1-5 lead at the break.

A few changes at half-time saw Seamus Tumelty and Corey Ranaghan join the field and they tipped the balance in Bright’s favour.

The second half was to be Bright’s, restricting Kilclief to just three Aiden McCann points which were all from frees.

Conor Kelly got Bright’s second score of match before James Hanna was replaced by Nicky O’Connor. Tony McIlhone, who had a solid performance throughout, fired in another powerful shot, but the ball was punched over the bar by the Kilclief ‘keeper.

Barry Mageean then cleared the ball from Bright’s goalmouth and sent it quickly down pitch where Kevin Groves got his side’s second goal goal.

Tony McIlhone got another point leaving Bright trailing by one, but Kelly managed to hit the ball over the bar for another point, levelling the score and giving Bright hope for a victory.

Unfortunately, Kilclief were awarded a free giving them the lead again and Bright wasted two scoring opportunities by going for goal and not points, leaving Kilclief still a point ahead at the end of the game that could have gone either way.

Bright 2-4

Kilclief 1-8

ACFL DIVISION 3